caption
Americannoun
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captions
plural
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a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, as in a magazine, newspaper, or book.
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a heading or title, as of a chapter, article, or page.
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Movies, Television, Digital Technology.
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a transcription or translation of dialogue and a written description of other audio elements, as sound effects, music, or atmospheric sounds, displayed as a graphic overlay on the lower part of the screen in a television program, film, video, or video game.
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a title or annotation displayed as a graphic overlay on the screen in a television program, film, video, or video game, as to set the scene, name a location, or specify a time or date.
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Law. the heading of a legal document stating the time, place, etc., of execution or performance.
verb (used with object)
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captions,
present (3rd person singular)
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captioned,
past participle, past
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captioning
present participle
noun
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a title, brief explanation, or comment accompanying an illustration; legend
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a heading, title, or headline of a chapter, article, etc
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graphic material, usually containing lettering, used in television presentation
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another name for subtitle
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the formal heading of a legal document stating when, where, and on what authority it was taken or made
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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subcaptionnoun
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supercaptionnoun
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miscaptionverb (used with object)
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captionlessadjective
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uncaptionedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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captionsimple
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captionssimple
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have captionedperfect
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has captionedperfect
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am captioningprogressive
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are captioningprogressive
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is captioningprogressive
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have been captioningperfect progressive
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has been captioningperfect progressive
Past
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captionedsimple
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had captionedperfect
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was captioningprogressive
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were captioningprogressive
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had been captioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caption
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English capcio(u)n “seizure,” from Latin captiōn- (stem of captiō ), equivalent to capt(us) “taken” ( see captive) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
A caption is a brief description accompanying an illustration. You know the online photo of your baby cousin face-planting into a cake? The description underneath it that says "Hugh's First Birthday" — that's the caption. The Latin root of caption is capito, which means "seizing" or "holding." What do captions have to do with seizing? Nothing. Centuries ago, when authorities seized someone's property for legal reasons, they presented documents that began with the phrase "certificate of caption." Eventually people began using the word to refer to the beginning of any document. Then they began using it to mean any article or chapter heading. And from chapter headings it was a short hop to picture headings. A long journey for a word whose definition includes the description "brief"!
Vocabulary lists containing caption
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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STAAR Grade 7 Reading: Informational Text
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“It does suck. But, it sucks a lot less than other options,” the caption from Compliant Technologies reads.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
In the caption of the post, she wrote that although she’d kept the news to herself for various reasons, she wanted to share her diagnosis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Gen X: We straight up raised ourselves,” reads the caption on one popular internet meme, a photo of an unhelmeted child on a rickety-looking bicycle popping a wheelie.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Maximilien, who is studying in Singapore, posted the video of himself licking the straw on Instagram with the caption "city is not safe".
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
“A pretty Los Angeles City College student,” the caption stated.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
Others came up with captions including "Don't Look Up," a reference to the 2021 film starring Leonardo Di Caprio parodying societal apathy to the climate crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
A big corner of the internet has been singing and dancing to those lyrics over the last few weeks, with the red, white and blue of Puerto's flag emoji proudly sprinkled all over captions.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Lines of dialogue are followed by explanatory glosses, like the captions beneath photographs, so that they cannot be misinterpreted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Sports reporting could be generated from box scores, financial reporting from ticker data and movie reviews from captions.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
He slammed the magazine down and glared at it as I said of course I knew he was the youngest, and the magazine did the captions, not me.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
On Wednesday, Crowley posted a chummy-looking photo of a breakfast meeting that included Hong and was captioned “Wisconsin Democrats are united.”
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
He also posted a photo, captioned “Vandalism,” that he said showed graffiti and damage to the Reflecting Pool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
“The movement has begun,” Greene captioned the picture.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
On Monday night, the former Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, posted a picture on X of him having a beer, external, captioned "thank you and good night. See you September".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
An old cartoon captioned “The PhD thesis” shows a little boy firing an arrow into the air, seeing where it lands, walking over to it, and painting a target around that spot.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
The book’s captioning about the white organdy costume Graham designed for herself, currently displayed in the library, notes that its inspiration was the “night-blooming Cereus” flower.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
While the initial live broadcast will use SDR quality with live captioning, a higher quality picture plus sweetened sounds and subtitles will be delivered when the on-demand version hits Netflix for rewatching.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
This may be an effort to mitigate the audience’s urge to divide attention between second screens or to capitalize on the mainstreaming of closed captioning in streaming content.
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2025
In an Instagram post on Boxing Day, The Vivienne put up a series of photos, captioning it: "24' highlights."
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2025
I wait until my parents are in the den watching Saturday morning news—which is totally boring and has the worst closed captioning, by the way—and I snatch one of the bowls in a big hurry.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
